Job 6:1-7 begins Job’s response to his friend, Eliphaz. Eliphaz believes that Job is suffering because he has not repented of sin. But Job has not sinned. Job laments his pain, describing it as heavier than all the sand on the seashore. He feels disoriented by his pain. He feels as though he is wounded by many arrows, due to the tragedies God has allowed in his life. He demonstrates that his pain is real, and undeserved. If he had sin to confess, he would. But Job is righteous.
In Job 6:1-7, Job begins his first reply to Eliphaz, pushing back against the idea that his suffering can be explained as a simple matter of cause-effect. Eliphaz has implied that Job is being punished by God for wrongdoing. The chapter opens with the narration—Then Job answered and said, (v.1).
Eliphaz and his friends sat for seven days waiting for Job to speak (Job 2:13). In Chapter 3, Job broke his silence and lamented his suffering, wishing he had not been born (Job 3:3). In the prior chapters 4-5, Eliphaz presented observations; he notes that God rewards good and punishes evil. Therefore, Eliphaz asserts that Job must have done something evil. Eliphaz ended his speech by declaring he and his friends know their perspective is true, and Job should bend to it (Job 5:27).
Now Job moves from mourning to defense. That Job answered demonstrates that he has understood the assertion and will now defend his integrity. As observers to the grand drama, we have already been shown that Job’s ordeal is part of a great spiritual battle between God and Satan (Job 1,Psalm 8:2). We know Job did nothing wrong, and that what Eliphaz and his two friends say speaks wrongly about God (Job 42:7).
But at this point all Job knows is that he has experienced great loss, he has done nothing to deserve it, and now his friends are asserting his suffering is a result of his own actions. They are asserting Job has done evil, and that if he will repent, then God will restore him. This is wrong both about Job and God; God is not obligated to respond to our behavior on a time frame of our choosing, as Eliphaz infers.
Job begins by wishing his circumstances were weighed in a court of law, because if they were, he would be vindicated. He states: Oh that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! (v.2).
In the ancient world, articles were often weighed in order to determine a just price. A certain amount of silver to purchase a certain amount of wheat, for instance. Therefore, weighing honestly and fairly became an image of justice. Biblical examples of this can be found in Proverbs 16:11, which indicates that honest weights please the Lord. Leviticus 19:36 proclaims a law that requires just (accurate) weights and measures. Proverbs 20:23 says that dishonest weights are an “abomination to the Lord.”
Job’s speech begins this chapter with a request for his grief to be weighed and the chapter will conclude with a request for an end to the injustice of accusing him of wrongs he did not do. Job’s opening request pictures a scale that has on one side Job’s grief and calamity. He says that in order for the scale to balance, the other side would have to contain all the sand of the seas. In fact, Job says even if this unmeasurable amount of sand were somehow put on the scale, it still would not balance: For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas (v. 3a).
The hyperbolic image places his grief and calamity on one side of the scale. When the entire sand of the seas, every grain of sand from every beach in the world, is laid on the other side of the scale, it still is not enough to offset his grief. His grief and calamity will still be heavier. This is a poetic picture that asserts that his grief is beyond measure.
Job follows by saying: Therefore my words have been rash (v.3b). The Strong’s Hebrew dictionary for the word translated have been rash indicates a meaning of swallowing down or speaking wildly. The connection might have something to do with what someone has swallowed. The idea seems to be that Job is saying his grief and calamity are so great, as heavy as the sand of the seas, that he is speaking as one who is in a stupor, one who has drunk too much. He is reeling and not fully lucid.
Job maintains his integrity throughout. He recognizes that his emotional state is fractured. He admits he is vulnerable and greatly weakened by his immense suffering. But in spite of this, he will continue to engage with his friends. The points he will make will primarily be to repeat that he wishes the Almighty would let his suffering end, that he did nothing wrong to deserve his condition, and that his friends ought to come to his aid rather than piling on and causing him even more grief.
Job then identifies the source of his pain as coming from God: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed against me (v.4).
God validated this idea in Chapter 2, where He told Satan he had “incited Me against him to ruin him without cause” (Job 2:3). Of course it was Satan that laid the blows. But God removed the hedge of protection to allow it, and took responsibility for the resulting damage (Job 1:10). Job describes his experience of suffering as having been shot by arrows dipped in poison. In this case, the poison has gone directly to his spirit and engulfed him in an array of terrors.
When Job says their poison my spirit drinks (v.4), he is describing what suffering does to the inner life: it can seep into thoughts, emotions, sleep, appetite, and hope. The Hebrew word translated spirit is “ruah” which can also be translated “breath.” It is the indicator of life, as in Genesis 7:15 where animals are said to have the “breath [‘ruah’] of life.”
Job’s spirit is taking in bitterness the way a body takes in a toxin. This is not merely poetic; it is the lived reality of grief—a pain that doesn’t stay on the surface but starts to color the entire inner world. And the phrase the terrors of God are arrayed against me (v.4) portrays Job’s fear as though God’s forces have lined up for battle. Job feels surrounded. In Psalm 88:16, the same Hebrew word translated Your terrors appears in poetic pairing with “burning anger.”
Job has accepted that God has the right to do whatever He decides (Job 1:21, 2:10). But he appears to view his condition as coming from God’s anger, which is actually not accurate. One of the primary takeaways we can gain from the Book of Job is that God allows things to happen for purposes greater than we can see, for a greater good than we can imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Many faithful servants in Scripture have voiced similar anguish—David’s laments repeatedly describe feeling pursued or overwhelmed (Psalm 6, 13). Jesus cried out in anguish on the cross (Psalm 22:1,Matthew 27:46). He also spoke words of distress the night of His arrest, saying to His disciples “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). God will reset Job’s perspective of Him in Job 38-41 (Job 40:4-5, 42:5-6).
But it is worth noting that even though Job misunderstands God’s motivation, God still says he spoke rightly of Him, unlike Eliphaz and his two friends (Job 42:7). Job consistently defended God’s sovereignty to do as He pleased, while Eliphaz has maintained that God responds to our actions in a predictable manner, inferring that ultimately we control God; He is more of a genie in a bottle than the Lord of all creation.
Job then turns to a common-sense observation from the natural world: Does the wild donkey bray over his grass, or does the ox low over his fodder? (v.5). His point is simple: content creatures don’t cry out. The wild donkey doesn’t bray when it has food; the ox doesn’t bellow when it is satisfied. Noise is a sign of need, distress, or discomfort.
Job is implying that his “braying”—his groaning, his outcries, his complaints—are not random. They are the understandable sounds of a creature in pain. This is a continuation of the point he began in verses 2-3, speaking of his immense pain in suffering. This basic idea will continue through verse 13, leading up to Job’s point in Job 6:14 that friends should show understanding, see things from his perspective, rather than piling on and creating more pain. We can observe that Eliphaz and his friends made erroneous assumptions about Job’s guilt rather than spending time engaging with Job to see things through his eyes (Job 1:22).
We can take application for ourselves to embrace Paul’s admonitions in Romans 12:14-15 to ensure that our response to others is appropriate for the moment. Job next uses food imagery to describe what his friends’ counsel feels like in his mouth: Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg? (v.6).
Tasteless food is hard to eat without salt. Job is saying that the advice Eliphaz has offered him is hard to swallow. It is like trying to eat the white of an egg alone. There is no true understanding of his condition and no suggestions that are actionable included in Eliphaz’s speech.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that correction is holy, but the first step prior to correcting others is to deal with our own faults. In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus says that the reason we can see faults in others is because we have them ourselves (Matthew 7:4). Jesus then instructs His disciples to first repent of sin themselves, then to approach others in a manner that takes into account their station and circumstances (Matthew 7:7:6).
Eliphaz’s approach presumes that God is transactional: do good, and blessing will come; do wrong, and trouble will come. Job’s “tasteless food” metaphor rejects that reduction. Job knows he is innocent, so will not relent and take actions tantamount to bribing God. Trying to operate God like a machine is not what it means to truly know Him. Rather, truly knowing God looks like a relationship with a sovereign Lord whose purposes can stretch beyond what we can see (Isaiah 55:8-9, John 17:3).
Job completes the food metaphor with a statement of revulsion: My soul refuses to touch them; they are like loathsome food to me (v.7). Job’s soul—his inner self—will not even touch much less consume the “food” Eliphaz has offered. His friends’ words actively repel him.
The phrase refuses to touch them (v.7) shows that Job’s rejection is not intellectual; it is visceral. Words without understanding can feel like poison to a wounded heart. Job pictures Eliphaz’s words as loathsome food.
We know that Job is actually innocent, so Eliphaz’s accusations about him are wrong (Job 1:22). We know that Eliphaz’s mental model about God being transactional is also wrong (Job 42:7). But we also know that Eliphaz sat for seven days with Job, waiting for him to speak, which indicates true friendship (Job 2:13). This might be why God forgave Eliphaz when he humbled himself before both God and Job, even though according to his own formula, he deserved to be punished (Job 42:8-9).
Job 6:1-7
Job's Friends Are No Help
1 Then Job answered,
2 “Oh that my grief were actually weighed
And laid in the balances together with my calamity!
3 “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
Set to dark mode
Job 6:1-7 meaning
In Job 6:1-7, Job begins his first reply to Eliphaz, pushing back against the idea that his suffering can be explained as a simple matter of cause-effect. Eliphaz has implied that Job is being punished by God for wrongdoing. The chapter opens with the narration—Then Job answered and said, (v.1).
Eliphaz and his friends sat for seven days waiting for Job to speak (Job 2:13). In Chapter 3, Job broke his silence and lamented his suffering, wishing he had not been born (Job 3:3). In the prior chapters 4-5, Eliphaz presented observations; he notes that God rewards good and punishes evil. Therefore, Eliphaz asserts that Job must have done something evil. Eliphaz ended his speech by declaring he and his friends know their perspective is true, and Job should bend to it (Job 5:27).
Now Job moves from mourning to defense. That Job answered demonstrates that he has understood the assertion and will now defend his integrity. As observers to the grand drama, we have already been shown that Job’s ordeal is part of a great spiritual battle between God and Satan (Job 1, Psalm 8:2). We know Job did nothing wrong, and that what Eliphaz and his two friends say speaks wrongly about God (Job 42:7).
But at this point all Job knows is that he has experienced great loss, he has done nothing to deserve it, and now his friends are asserting his suffering is a result of his own actions. They are asserting Job has done evil, and that if he will repent, then God will restore him. This is wrong both about Job and God; God is not obligated to respond to our behavior on a time frame of our choosing, as Eliphaz infers.
Job begins by wishing his circumstances were weighed in a court of law, because if they were, he would be vindicated. He states: Oh that my grief were actually weighed and laid in the balances together with my calamity! (v.2).
In the ancient world, articles were often weighed in order to determine a just price. A certain amount of silver to purchase a certain amount of wheat, for instance. Therefore, weighing honestly and fairly became an image of justice. Biblical examples of this can be found in Proverbs 16:11, which indicates that honest weights please the Lord. Leviticus 19:36 proclaims a law that requires just (accurate) weights and measures. Proverbs 20:23 says that dishonest weights are an “abomination to the Lord.”
Job’s speech begins this chapter with a request for his grief to be weighed and the chapter will conclude with a request for an end to the injustice of accusing him of wrongs he did not do. Job’s opening request pictures a scale that has on one side Job’s grief and calamity. He says that in order for the scale to balance, the other side would have to contain all the sand of the seas. In fact, Job says even if this unmeasurable amount of sand were somehow put on the scale, it still would not balance: For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas (v. 3a).
The hyperbolic image places his grief and calamity on one side of the scale. When the entire sand of the seas, every grain of sand from every beach in the world, is laid on the other side of the scale, it still is not enough to offset his grief. His grief and calamity will still be heavier. This is a poetic picture that asserts that his grief is beyond measure.
Job follows by saying: Therefore my words have been rash (v.3b). The Strong’s Hebrew dictionary for the word translated have been rash indicates a meaning of swallowing down or speaking wildly. The connection might have something to do with what someone has swallowed. The idea seems to be that Job is saying his grief and calamity are so great, as heavy as the sand of the seas, that he is speaking as one who is in a stupor, one who has drunk too much. He is reeling and not fully lucid.
Job maintains his integrity throughout. He recognizes that his emotional state is fractured. He admits he is vulnerable and greatly weakened by his immense suffering. But in spite of this, he will continue to engage with his friends. The points he will make will primarily be to repeat that he wishes the Almighty would let his suffering end, that he did nothing wrong to deserve his condition, and that his friends ought to come to his aid rather than piling on and causing him even more grief.
Job then identifies the source of his pain as coming from God: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed against me (v.4).
God validated this idea in Chapter 2, where He told Satan he had “incited Me against him to ruin him without cause” (Job 2:3). Of course it was Satan that laid the blows. But God removed the hedge of protection to allow it, and took responsibility for the resulting damage (Job 1:10). Job describes his experience of suffering as having been shot by arrows dipped in poison. In this case, the poison has gone directly to his spirit and engulfed him in an array of terrors.
When Job says their poison my spirit drinks (v.4), he is describing what suffering does to the inner life: it can seep into thoughts, emotions, sleep, appetite, and hope. The Hebrew word translated spirit is “ruah” which can also be translated “breath.” It is the indicator of life, as in Genesis 7:15 where animals are said to have the “breath [‘ruah’] of life.”
Job’s spirit is taking in bitterness the way a body takes in a toxin. This is not merely poetic; it is the lived reality of grief—a pain that doesn’t stay on the surface but starts to color the entire inner world. And the phrase the terrors of God are arrayed against me (v.4) portrays Job’s fear as though God’s forces have lined up for battle. Job feels surrounded. In Psalm 88:16, the same Hebrew word translated Your terrors appears in poetic pairing with “burning anger.”
Job has accepted that God has the right to do whatever He decides (Job 1:21, 2:10). But he appears to view his condition as coming from God’s anger, which is actually not accurate. One of the primary takeaways we can gain from the Book of Job is that God allows things to happen for purposes greater than we can see, for a greater good than we can imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Many faithful servants in Scripture have voiced similar anguish—David’s laments repeatedly describe feeling pursued or overwhelmed (Psalm 6, 13). Jesus cried out in anguish on the cross (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46). He also spoke words of distress the night of His arrest, saying to His disciples “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). God will reset Job’s perspective of Him in Job 38-41 (Job 40:4-5, 42:5-6).
But it is worth noting that even though Job misunderstands God’s motivation, God still says he spoke rightly of Him, unlike Eliphaz and his two friends (Job 42:7). Job consistently defended God’s sovereignty to do as He pleased, while Eliphaz has maintained that God responds to our actions in a predictable manner, inferring that ultimately we control God; He is more of a genie in a bottle than the Lord of all creation.
Job then turns to a common-sense observation from the natural world: Does the wild donkey bray over his grass, or does the ox low over his fodder? (v.5). His point is simple: content creatures don’t cry out. The wild donkey doesn’t bray when it has food; the ox doesn’t bellow when it is satisfied. Noise is a sign of need, distress, or discomfort.
Job is implying that his “braying”—his groaning, his outcries, his complaints—are not random. They are the understandable sounds of a creature in pain. This is a continuation of the point he began in verses 2-3, speaking of his immense pain in suffering. This basic idea will continue through verse 13, leading up to Job’s point in Job 6:14 that friends should show understanding, see things from his perspective, rather than piling on and creating more pain. We can observe that Eliphaz and his friends made erroneous assumptions about Job’s guilt rather than spending time engaging with Job to see things through his eyes (Job 1:22).
We can take application for ourselves to embrace Paul’s admonitions in Romans 12:14-15 to ensure that our response to others is appropriate for the moment. Job next uses food imagery to describe what his friends’ counsel feels like in his mouth: Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg? (v.6).
Tasteless food is hard to eat without salt. Job is saying that the advice Eliphaz has offered him is hard to swallow. It is like trying to eat the white of an egg alone. There is no true understanding of his condition and no suggestions that are actionable included in Eliphaz’s speech.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that correction is holy, but the first step prior to correcting others is to deal with our own faults. In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus says that the reason we can see faults in others is because we have them ourselves (Matthew 7:4). Jesus then instructs His disciples to first repent of sin themselves, then to approach others in a manner that takes into account their station and circumstances (Matthew 7:7:6).
Eliphaz’s approach presumes that God is transactional: do good, and blessing will come; do wrong, and trouble will come. Job’s “tasteless food” metaphor rejects that reduction. Job knows he is innocent, so will not relent and take actions tantamount to bribing God. Trying to operate God like a machine is not what it means to truly know Him. Rather, truly knowing God looks like a relationship with a sovereign Lord whose purposes can stretch beyond what we can see (Isaiah 55:8-9, John 17:3).
Job completes the food metaphor with a statement of revulsion: My soul refuses to touch them; they are like loathsome food to me (v.7). Job’s soul—his inner self—will not even touch much less consume the “food” Eliphaz has offered. His friends’ words actively repel him.
The phrase refuses to touch them (v.7) shows that Job’s rejection is not intellectual; it is visceral. Words without understanding can feel like poison to a wounded heart. Job pictures Eliphaz’s words as loathsome food.
We know that Job is actually innocent, so Eliphaz’s accusations about him are wrong (Job 1:22). We know that Eliphaz’s mental model about God being transactional is also wrong (Job 42:7). But we also know that Eliphaz sat for seven days with Job, waiting for him to speak, which indicates true friendship (Job 2:13). This might be why God forgave Eliphaz when he humbled himself before both God and Job, even though according to his own formula, he deserved to be punished (Job 42:8-9).